Threads
by Thunderbird2
Summary: Foyet is back...and kidnaps someone? Also, what is going on with Hotch's daughter?
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds belongs to the producers, director and writers; Blood Plus, animators. Only the OCs belong me.

* * *

"Agent Hotchner," Aaron stiffened at that voice. Something was off. Foyet should be eager to prove himself, show the complete dominance over him. But he already did have it, his daughter was with him in the vehicle in the background noise. The man's oddly cautious voice tipped off the profiler.

"Is this line dead? I can understand if you don't want to talk, she'll know your busy."

"Hotch, who is it?" demanded Morgan.

He ignored him. The adrenaline rush had Hotch on edge. "How did you get this number?"

"I know you're more courteous than this." Foyet smoothly taunted again.

"Where is my daughter?" He steely covered the panic, but they all knew he was going crazy at the thought of the serial killer being near Raia. "Lay a hand on -"

"Is that Foyet?" Derek barked insistently. "Give me the phone!"

"Be gentle? I'll give them the message."

"What do you mean?" This is not what he does, he got nothing out of kidnapping; there was nothing to gain from it. It was not in his profile to form partnerships, either.

"I'm surprised about as much as you are, but they aren't that bad. They're the only reason she's still alive; one of them is quite taken."

Controlling the panicked anger warred with the contradicting mental review of their profile. This didn't make sense! It could be the truth, then again a lie...if what was being said was true...The thought made Hotch sick at the image in his head.

Morgan watched his superior as he sped down the street with the red and blue lights flaring. He could not take watching Hotch lose it like this, something else must have blind-sided him. What was Foyet doing?

"I got to go, Aaron. My friends are getting impatient to get inside."

Hotchner woke up in a sweat. How many times did he have this dream? Foyet was watching them, he was sure, waiting for a chance to get them. Most likely, however, he might be watching him. But what would make him deter from his MO and profile? Nothing.

_It is just dream. _He tells himself this as he gets up and sits on the edge of the bed when he remembers the finalized separation. Jack and Raian were with Haley, as they should. The pain is not as old as it feels like. These are the worst of them. The ones with Foyet taunting him using Jack, using Haley, using Raian, over the phone as he's rushing over to the house.

Foyet knows, since they separated, that they were vulnerable. That his children no longer have their father around. That they were being protected by the U.S. Marshall. He looks over at his alarm clock to see it is almost four o' clock in the morning. There is no use to go back to sleep. So, he had no choice but to get ready for work.


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds belongs to the producers, writers and director; Blood Plus, the animators and writers. The only thing that belongs to my head are the OCs.

* * *

_If you love large, you've got to hurt large. If you've got a lot of light, you've probably got an equal amount of darkness. _

_- Sarah McLachlan_

* * *

Hotch pressed the elevator button and waited for the doors to open. The nightmare was still playing in his mind - a never ending viewing of a horror film. So much more terrifying than the an actual movie, more real because of the body count they all knew Foyet had. It was starting to haunt him now in the waking world. It has been for the last month.

"Good morning, Aaron. You're early again." Rossi stood at his side.

"How was last night's lecture?" asks Aaron.

"It's all the same," the author pointed out off handily. "doesn't matter if it's a room full of trainees or room full of groupies. Don't you agree?"

Dave could not understand the obsession the public had with serial killers. The BAU was not a walk in the park. Being in the same room with the most twisted, sickest minds on a daily was not for the faint of heart; the average person could not stomach that. They would break under the pressure.

"True as that may be, you can't blame them for being curious."

"How long do you think someone normal could last in a room with men like Foyet?"

"Not very long." A chill run down his spine at the thought of his family being that close to the man. "All I'm saying what we do looks interesting to them from the outside."

"Until a friend or family member becomes the victim of a psychopath," adds Rossi flatly. He watched Hotch press the floor number with a careful mask when they stepped in and let the doors close. "You don't have to come in so early, you know. It wouldn't hurt to sleep in for two extra hours. The team can handle one briefing without you."

"I can't do that."

He saw the familiar fierce glint in his superior's eyes. The faint bags under his eyes were becoming a common occurence and there was defensive edge to his voice too hard for conversation.

"Why not?" countered Rossi. "Strauss is going to bring it to your attention sooner or later."

"You know why, Dave," Hotchner told him. "Foyet will think he won if I take a day off."

"So what?" the Italian scoffed. "You need one, Hotch! When was the last time you had that? A day is not going to do any harm."

"How do you not know he'll try to harm Haley, Jack and Raian?" His nightmare came back with full force as the elevator opened to their floor.

"We'll catch Foyet. He's not going to touch them as long as the deal is in place." Rossi reassured. "Is that what your nightmare is about? How does it end?"

He stopped at the foot of the cat walk to face his co-worker. "I know you're trying to help, but that doesn't change the fact that Foyet could still do it even if he does see I am not giving in."

"And your point?" Rossi challenged.

Hotch took a calming breath as JJ's door closed.

She gave both agents a worried look when the tension thickened. "Am I interrupting something?"

The unit chief composed himself quickly. It was obvious who won the argument. "No, JJ, is that our next case?"

"Yes. We'll begin briefing the minute everyone gets in." JJ said.

"Must be pretty serious," assumed Rossi.

"And bizarre," describes the liaison before disappearing into the conference room.

Rossi looked at Hotch, suspicious confusion in his eyes. "Something tells me it's not the usual crazy stuff we learn about."

"Nothing should surprise us." Hotch says. "This isn't the first time we were given bizarre cases."

"Remind me again next time JJ redefines the description 'bizarre.'" He walked up the ramp and headed towards the gathering room.

Morgan stared after the veteran profiler then at Emily and Reid. What was going on?

"Don't look at me, I got in around the same time." Emily warned, shaking her head.

The african american turned to Hotch. "Just how weird are we talking about here?"

"Apparently, strange enough to wait for the three of you to get in. She wants to start now." he explained.

"Must be serious if she wants us to sit down immediately." says Reid. "When did you find out?"

"A minute ago as of now." Hotch turned to head to the conference room before any of them could react.

"Good thing we got in early," murmured Prentiss. "Is anyone else having an walk-over-your-grave moment?"

"More like walking into a scene from the 'Silence of the Lambs.'" Derek disagreed. "Did you catch Hotch's behavior?"

"He and Haley have been separated for a few months, wouldn't you lose sleep with someone threatening your family at the same time?" she reminded him.

He was unable to answer. They were already inside the conference room.

Hotch looked up from his file. "We can start, JJ."

"Who called us in?" wondered Prentiss.

"Local police responded to seventeen year old Alexa Daniels's nine-one-one call last night at nine fifty-five while leaving work at Sears." The liasion clicked the remote. "By the time they got there, this is what they found."

A drained red-head popped on-screen wearing jeans and shredded sea-green short-sleeved shirt, head turned to the side. There was a single gauging wound in her abdomen but no blood puddled under her. Alexa's blank green eyes stared off into space. Puncture marks on her neck could clearly be seen in the photo.

"Are those animal markings?" Reid leaned forward, straining his eyes.

"That is what the medical examiner's office say the injuries resemble, but the autopsy results dropped that possibility and so far they are considering a knife. They have no weapon yet to explain the lack of blood." She zoomed in as she paled. "The on-duty manager was in the back, closing the store, when the attack took place. The police just cleared her."

"It says here that she thought Alexa was on her way home the whole time," Rossi commented as he read the witness's report. "Did they search her office?"

"CSU found nothing; no blood splatters, no buckets."

"Jaintors' closest?" Morgan offered. "Someone had to have moved her body after draining it. An attack this brutal would've been impossible to ignore by someone staying behind to close."

"Morgan has a point." Emily's eyes went over the autopsy report. "Where was she found exactly?"

"Seven feet from her car in the parking lot an hour later at ten fifty-five."

Another photo of a blue Bug was next to the dead girl's. Its right windows and wind shield were splattered with dots of blood.

They all stared, baffled.

"Was this what you meant by 'bizarre'?" mutters Rossi.

"And it doesn't stopped there," JJ told them. "She is the second victim in four days. The first person was twenty-three year old Coalan Zackary, the only exception is he was killed inside an auto repair shop."

Morgan stared at the first bloodless bath. The college age boy's neck was punctured in the neck the same way Alexa's was - one animatistic bite. He was lifelessly laying three feet from the truck with a few drops and tools scattered to his left, but...no slash mark on the stomach.

"Shouldn't there be more than two?" he asks. "All I'm seeing here is a UnSub on the verge of psychotic break."

"If that is not already the case, then the body count will be three soon." the unit chief commented.

"The lack of mild mutilation between the victims does suggest a slow increase of psychosis..." mused Reid.

"But?" Derek knew he woke up in a movie.

"It's amazing, really, that he left no witnesses behind if he drained them both on site while out in the open." He put the crime scene photo back on the table before glancing up, deep in thought.

Hotch caught on to what the young agent was getting at. "Did they send in the emergency call and footage?"

"The security footage from both businesses and nine-one-one call will be sent to Garcia tomorrow morning." the liaison said.

"Why tomorrow morning?" Prentiss wondered.

"Chief Willis is expecting us at the medical examiner's officer in thirty minutes." she explained. "To prevent leaks to the public, they are turning down requests for interviews from news papers and anchors."

"That was quick thinking," Rossi closed his case file and pushed back his chair.

"And thinking that will hopefully keep the media at bay," Hotch stood up as everyone prepared to leave. "Prentiss, you and Reid go to the medical examiner's office."

"On it," she nodded before being trailed out by Reid.

"Me and Rossi are walking the crime scene then?" says Derek.

"Would you prefer to go to the Medical Examiner's Office with Reid?"

He stared at Hotch with tense shock. "It was only a question. No need to snap my head off."

"Yes, you and Rossi are walking the crime scene."

Rossi watched him walk towards the elevator. The others were too shocked to speak.


	3. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds belongs to the producers, writers and director; Blood Plus, the animators and writers. The only thing that belongs to my head are the OCs.

* * *

He unlocked the SUV and climbed out behind the wheel, buckling himself in. Hotch's reaction to Morgan's question was too strong, too assuming. Something else must be bothering Aaron. If it was not Foyet, then it must be the nightmare.

"What was that about?" Fumed the agent. "I only was asking if we were walking the crime scene."

"I can only guess." Rossi turned the key in the ignition and pulled out of the parking space.

Morgan looked over at him in confusion as they turned onto the road. "Don't tell me you haven't noticed the bags under Hotch's eyes?"

"Of course I have." The older agent eased to stop at a red light. "What is it you're really worried about?"

"Did he tell you what it was about?"

"No, he hasn't." Rossi eyed Derek critically. "You know as well as I do that we all have nightmares, especially with our job. Look at Reid..."

They never stopped for him. Even after the team helped put to rest his twenty year old nightmare, others still cropped up stemming from other cases.

"What does Reid have to do with Hotch's dreams?" There were times when Morgan could not understand him.

"Nothing, I'm sure," The light turned green and he rounded a street corner. "But it makes a point, doesn't it?"

The lot was far from empty. Officers pressed back the small crowd milling behind the barricades. Some of them peeked past the uniforms; others kept a distance, horrified.

Rossi cut the engine and climbed out. "Quite a crowd."

"It's an popular clothes store, Rossi. What makes you think that they'll shut this place down?"

Morgan climbed out of the black SUV and watched the crowd closely. He could only imagine the chaos the manager and store employees were dealing with.

"Nothing stops progress."

A flustered detective inched between the barricade line. The haggard lines were wrinkles on his young face as much as the stress in the expression he wore.

"Behavioral Analysis Unit?" The gust of breath was a cross of a sigh and relieved gasp.

"Agent Morgan," the african american says.

"Agent Rossi."

"Detective Loren," He looked down at the cement, embarrassed. "Sorry for the mob scene. My men are doing their best to keep them back, especially the journalists and photographers."

Morgan looked over at the group being warded off. Some were wandering into the store now, disappointed. It was sickening really. He turned back to the timid detective as they walked towards the scene.

"Did you have to tell anyone to move their car before you cornered off the area?"

"No, the manager's Sedan was the only vehicle present when we responded to the nine-one-one call. She parked ten feet away." Loren let another gust of air out, shaking his head but not drooping it towards the ground again. "CSU found nothing connecting her to the...assualt."

He hesitated in front of one of the barricades. That girl's face was going to haunt him from now to doomsday.

"There was evidence of sexual assault?" Rossi never read that in the case file.

"The medical examiner didn't say so..." Loren trailed off brokenly. "Just confirmed that whoever surprised her overpowered then..." He didn't trust his voice all the sudden. "I'm going to help out with crowd control, let you two do your thing."

They watched him inch through the break and towards two officers. The splattered Bug was still sitting its space, a few feet away was the drawn out line of a body.

"JJ didn't mention anything about sexual assault." He stood back three meters to stare at the few dried stains there were then at the patterns coating the wind shield and right windows.

"The medical examiner could have intentionally left it out of the autopsy report, that detective did lose it when you asked if there was." Morgan walked around the dried blood spray. "The UnSub might have approached Alexa while she was walking to her car then surprises her when she let her guard down."

"They are not doing us any favors." Rossi's dark eyes wandered back over the cement stains until they finally settled on the outline. Something about this felt too planned. "This is too organized for a disorganized killer. No one can drain a human being in an hour and not leave a pool."

"Why out in the open?" Cameras installed above the store entrance and parking lot caught his attention. "Anyone could have walked out..."

"We're done here," The Italian gave the outline one more glance before shifting it to Loren.

The detective walked over, nervously anticipating the worst. His composed face, partially calm demeanor, said it all. Was this guy expecting a minute examination? Or a reasonable answer for some other actions?

"How twisted is this guy?"

"We'd like to talk to the manager. Has she spoken to any journalists yet?"

It wasn't the answer he was looking for. "No, we told her and the store employees to not accept requests from the journalists."

Loren motioned for them to follow, but Rossi could still see the question in his eyes. It made him wonder...

"Did you know Alexa personally?"

"No." He shook his head warily, eyes on his shoes. "This is my first high-profile case..."

"Your first kid?" Morgan offered.

"That, too." They passed a rack of men's t-shirts on the way to the back. All for sale at the moment.

An employee at the front desk of the dressing rooms looked up from the register them walking over.

"Can I help you three with something?" she asked.

"Agents Rossi and Morgan," Rossi flashed his ID. "Where is your manager?"

The sandy blonde twenty-two year old deflated. "You're here because of Alexa?"

"Yes, were you two close?"

"Yes...she was only in high school." Tears filled her moose-brown eyes unwillingly. Blinking them clear, she took a breath. "I was supposed to be the one leaving early also, but I got sidetracked with a call in my office...it was about a shipment of Arizona jeans. They never did come in today." Her eyes pleaded with a need to know. "What happened?"

"It may have been someone she knew. Were there any employees besides you and Alexa here last night?"

Shell shock was taking over. Denial, perhaps.

"Ma'am?" The Italian watched her control her strained expression.

"What makes you think its..." She trailed off. "It didn't last long, did it?"

Loren looked at the agents, wondering what to say. It was odd having an co-worker this worked up.

"How well did you know Alexa?"

"My name is Melissa," she checked herself. "Alexa was the closest thing to a sister. When she started working here as one of our cashiers, I noticed how trusting she was of others she tended to be."

"Did she complain about any male co-workers behaving strangely?" Morgan asked.

"No, nothing like that. I would never allow something like that to happen!" The anger was unexpected. Unprofessional and fierce. An announcement came from the ceiling intercom, reminding her where she was. "Sorry...can you excuse me?"

Loren, Rossi and Derek watched her head towards the shoe department. Who was she protecting? Herself? One of the employees?

They both started to leave, suspicious. The detective grew worried.

"Call Garcia," he told Morgan as they neared the entrance.

Hope this good chapter. Let me know your thoughts.


End file.
